Clone Quartet - Carousel / Played To Death (Tigertrap)
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By: Chris O'Toole
As the long decline of dance music continues unabated, (witness the abysmal failure of Orbital, Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim, Daft Punk amongst others in recent years), more and more acts have been turning to guitar rock to enliven their sound. The latest Unkle record, for example, takes the industrial Goth sounds of 1980s Bauhaus and transfuses them into their own electronic productions to create a new hybrid, and this is the increasingly fashionable option for those jumping ship on the dying industry. By incorporating elements of genres they were once going to replace dance acts are able to gleam one more stab at the charts.
Witness Clone Quartet. Their sound is based on the electronic productions of multi-instrumentalist / vocalist Andy Henry, and blends synthesized electronic rhythms with sharp guitar hooks and yearning vocals. The ambition, one would assume, is to create cross over pop songs, equally likely to be found on the dance floor at Fabric as in a muddy field at Reading Festival. Recent appearances with the Rapture and CSS, coupled with positive press from the BBC amongst others, would suggest success in this endeavor.
However, as is so often the case, the wool has been pulled over the eyes of those supposedly in the know. Clone Quartet do mix dance and rock, but aren't particularly adept at either. Their style is a stylized pastiche; flat, tinny reproductions of radio friendly productions by their less than distinguished predecessors. Their BBC press suggests, and I quote, "Worth ten of anything by the Automatic", as if this is some sort of perverse compliment. Gauging one fly by night flash in the pan sensation against another is hardly an incontrovertible barometer of quality. It merely suggests this band had a modicum more talent than the last drivel those elusive trend setters hoisted upon an questioning public.
Taking in the bigger picture this is exposed as hideous, faux, appropriation of an already bankrupt idea; running with an idea, straight into the ground. I failed to see why this would be taken seriously? Yes, it sounds a little more like what is currently en vogue, but it is so inherently vapid and inconsequential as to be worthless. Why not explore more genuine territory? Why not try something new? Rather than imitating what has been seen to be successful?
Stream 'Carousel' and 'Played to Death' HERE.
Artists in this article: Clone Quartet
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